Beijing tells Spain to honour China citizens rights during bank probe

China on Thursday urged Spain to “safeguard the legal rights and interests” of employees of Chinese megabank ICBC, following their arrest by Spanish authorities on suspicion of laundering tens of millions euros. Spanish police searched the Madrid branch of ICBC Wednesday, arresting five of its directors as part of a probe into the suspected laundering of at least 40 million euros (USD 44.5 million). 

“We hope the Spanish side would deal with the relevant issue in accordance with law and honestly safeguard legal rights and interests of Chinese companies”, foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.